Ascension
The various Council races are left stunned at the attack on the Citadel—which is officially described as an attack by a rogue Spectre leading an army of geth, with no mention of Sovereign or the Reapers. As the Council is restructured, and the final pockets of geth resistance found and destroyed, the Alliance Navy has now become a dominant military force in the galaxy and humanity's place in Citadel space is undeniable. Spurred on by these events, the Illusive Man, leader of a rogue group called Cerberus, decides to push ahead with his plans for Gillian Grayson, a biotic prodigy undergoing training at the Ascension Project. Her father, Paul Grayson, is given a vial of medicine to administer to his daughter, supposedly to improve her biotic abilities and speed the development of 'humanity's saviour'. Kahlee Sanders, now a supervisor on the Ascension Project, is becoming concerned about Gillian's development and her place with the other students. Though gifted, Gillian is also autistic which makes her training difficult. Meanwhile, Paul Grayson's one-time partner and fellow Cerberus operative, Pel, goes to Omega in the Terminus Systems to meet a contact, a quarian named Golo. Exiled from the Migrant Fleet for trying to sell his fellow quarians to the Collectors, Golo is quite prepared to grant the Illusive Man's request for transmission and access codes to the Flotilla. Though he cannot provide the codes himself, he suggests a strategy: lure a scout ship from the Migrant Fleet and ambush the crew. While Paul Grayson travels to the Grissom Academy he becomes anxious, stewing about the fate of his daughter if he allows the Illusive Man and Cerberus to continue testing experimental biotic-enhancing serums. He finds relief the way he has become accustomed to over the last few years: red sand. He manages to convince himself after coming down from a hit of red sand that he has the composure of a mere addict rather than a complete junkie, though he never actually convinces anyone else of this. Paul is met by Kahlee Sanders, her lover Dr. Jiro Toshiwa, and the Project's security chief, a former BAaT attendee named Hendel Mitra. Hendel makes no secret of his dislike of both Toshiwa and Grayson to Kahlee; he is well aware of Grayson's drug addiction, and warns Kahlee that there is something about Toshiwa that he doesn't trust. During his visit to Gillian, Paul Grayson secretly passes on the vial of medicine to Toshiwa—another Cerberus colleague—but still has misgivings about giving it to Gillian. The quarian Feda'Gazu vas Idenna arrives on Shelba, a cold, uninhabited planet near the Venoss system, in her ship Cyniad (a scout vessel of the Idenna) after being offered a trade for essential technology by the traitor Golo. Though prepared for treachery, she and her crew are not prepared for an ambush by Pel and his men, and once dead are stripped of their suits for disguises. Pel and his team then approach the Cyniad in the quarian rover, and capture the pilot, Hilo'Jaa vas Idenna. However, when Hilo screams abuse at Golo, the traitor hits Hilo in the face, cracking his faceplate and allowing contaminated air inside. Back at the Ascension Project, Gillian Grayson is eating lunch when she is confronted by another student and fellow biotic, Nick. When Nick teases her and biotically knocks her milk over, Gillian retaliates with a full biotic storm, culminating in a high-level singularity until she is finally stunned by Hendel Mitra and hospitalised. After spending the night with Jiro, Kahlee goes to see Hendel, who is despondent over his ’failure' in the cafeteria. During their talk, Kahlee suddenly realises that Jiro mentioned her relationship to Jon Grissom—something known only in classified Alliance documents—and discovers both Jiro and Gillian have disappeared from the hospital. Hendel catches up with them in the atrium, where Gillian—having just received a cerebrospinal dose of the Cerberus medicine from Jiro—is suffering a seizure. Jiro stuns Hendel, but is caught by Kahlee, while Hendel saves Gillian's life with CPR. With Jiro in custody and undergoing interrogation, the Illusive Man orders Paul Grayson to play the distraught parent and remove Gillian for more focused observation and testing in a Cerberus facility. Meanwhile, Pel is approached by Golo, much to the human's disgust. Pel tells him that the interrogation of Hilo is not going well: thanks to Golo, the pilot has caught some sort of disease and is incoherent with fever. Golo apologizes, and explains that he has come to Pel with a tempting offer that doesn't involve Cerberus... an offer direct from the Collectors. Paul Grayson arrives at the Ascension Project and, hearing that Jiro has confessed to working for Cerberus, demands Gillian be released to him for her own safety. Hendel gets angry, but Kahlee suggests a compromise: Grayson can remove Gillian and take her to safety from Cerberus in the Terminus Systems—if Kahlee and Hendel go along. Grayson reluctantly agrees. Elsewhere, on Omega, a young quarian on his Pilgrimage named Lemm'Shal nar Tesleya finds Golo, and confronts him about the Cyniad attack. Golo claims he was only the middleman, and tells him about Hilo, still being held captive by Pel. Lemm decides to mount a rescue mission. Grayson, along with Kahlee, Hendel and his daughter, arrives at Omega to meet Pel, pretending Pel is just his contact there. But when they meet Pel, Grayson is double-crossed. Pel is no longer working for Cerberus: he is going to sell Hendel, Kahlee and Gillian to the Collectors. All four are imprisoned, only to be freed when Lemm storms the warehouse, believing he has found four quarian captives. To Kahlee's surprise, Lemm appears to recognise her, and orchestrates an escape. Grayson is left behind; he takes his revenge on Pel by shooting him. After a search Grayson finds Hilo in a cell, horrifically tortured and sick, but still alive and muttering both a frequency and a code phrase. Travelling with Lemm and the others, Kahlee wonders where they could possibly escape an organisation as powerful as Cerberus. Lemm offers a suggestion—the Migrant Fleet. Lemm recognises Kahlee because the quarians have an interest in Saren Arterius and his ability to control the geth. He believes that Kahlee could offer some useful insight into how Saren controlled them—and introducing Kahlee to the captain of the Idenna will hopefully be a sufficient Pilgrimage gift. However, once they reach the Migrant Fleet, their shuttle is locked down for quarantine and Hendel, Kahlee and Gillian are asked to stay aboard, not knowing that Paul Grayson has reported to the Illusive Man and asked for help to retrieve his daughter from the Migrant Fleet, using the codes Hilo was muttering. The Illusive Man is eventually convinced to let him go as part of the extraction team, along with Golo. Hendel passes the time in quarantine by giving Gillian specialised biotic tuition, until Kahlee is summoned to a meeting with members of the Conclave and Admiralty Board. They ask her about Saren, the Reapers and the geth, but Kahlee cannot tell them anything useful. After the meeting, Kahlee, Hendel and Gillian are invited to a private meeting with Ysin'Mal vas Idenna, the Idenna's captain. He explains that the three have inadvertently stepped into a debate raging about the future of the Migrant Fleet. Within ninety years, the quarians will outgrow their ability to sustain themselves, and a solution is desperately needed. Some quarians, including Captain Mal, believe the future of the Fleet relies on ships leaving the Flotilla to search for new homeworlds, whereas the Conclave and the Admiralty Board want to focus on keeping the Migrant Fleet insular and strong. Their conversation is interrupted when Golo and several Cerberus commandos storm the Idenna aboard the Cyniad. Kahlee and Hendel join the quarians in their battle, sending Gillian to safety, but the girl decides to return to the shuttle where she felt safe, killing several Cerberus commandos on the way with her biotic abilities. Paul Grayson sees his daughter aboard the shuttle as he prepares to steal it, and stuns her, in the hope he can get her to safety. With the battle going badly, Kahlee goes looking for Gillian, only to be ambushed by Golo. As the quarian kicks her, she appeals to Grayson to see the truth: his loyalties to Cerberus are misplaced, they are not turning Gillian into a saviour, but into a weapon. Grayson wavers, then finally turns on Golo and shoots him in the head. Grayson reveals that the Cyniad is wired with explosives, intended to rip a hole in the Idenna and cripple her. Hendel and Captain Mal race to the Cyniad and manage to disable them in time. The quarians are then left to deal with the aftermath, and the stunning fact of an attack on the Migrant Fleet itself. Realising the time for conservatism is over, the quarians decide to follow the proposals of people like Mal, and send ships off to search for new homeworlds—or a way to drive out the geth using a Reaper. The Idenna is selected as one of the first to leave, with a hand-picked crew. Hendel and Gillian are selected to go along: Gillian has responded well to the quarian life aboard the Idenna, and after five years to grow up, she might be better equipped to deal with Cerberus. Meanwhile, Kahlee has been given custody of Paul Grayson. She and Lemm—also selected to go on the Idenna's mission—will take Grayson to the Alliance colony of Cuervo and hand him over to the authorities. However, knowing that Cerberus will get to him eventually, Grayson manages to overpower both Kahlee and Lemm, leaving them to wake up unharmed on the Volus world of Daleon. Kahlee asks Lemm to return her to the Ascension Project. There are still children who need her help. Waiting for a report on the Idenna attack, the Illusive Man is surprised to get a call from Paul Grayson. He has a simple message: he is leaving Cerberus, Gillian is beyond their reach, and if anything happens to Kahlee Sanders, he will go to the Alliance with all he knows. The Illusive Man reluctantly agrees not to pursue either Kahlee or Gillian. He knows that losing Gillian will set their biotic research back a decade, but he cannot risk exposure: Cerberus has many other projects to protect...